


Just a Bit of Wriggle Room

by KannaOphelia



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: All of time and space and we keep ending up on Earth, But nothing essential to understanding this really, Canon-Typical Violence, Clara and Romana and Ashildr totally deserve to go off on adventures together, F/F, Gentle Kissing, Mixing in some canon from the novels and audio books, Mostly PG rated references to deaths of Clara Echoes, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:09:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27060961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KannaOphelia/pseuds/KannaOphelia
Summary: The second time Romanadvoratrelunda saw those eyes, they were on a girl clambering into the high window of their cell and dropping to the floor. She probably meant to drop elegantly, like a cat, but she fell on her bottom."Ow, ow ow! Um, hi. Greetings, I am the Rebel Maid Clare and I am here to rescue--what are your names?"The Doctor beamed kindly at her. "I'm the Doctor. Thank you for coming to our aid. And this is--""Romanadvoratrelunda.""That's a bit of a mouthful. Beautiful, though. For a beautiful girl.""You can always call her--""Fred," Romanadvoratrelunda interrupted, with a triumphant glance at the Doctor. He made a face at her."Fred. I like it." Clare's warm gaze suggested she liked Romanadvoratrelunda, too, and for some reason Romanadvoratrelunda blushed.
Relationships: Clara Oswin Oswald/Romana II, Echo Clara Oswin Oswald/Romana I, Echo Clara Oswin Oswald/Romana II
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18
Collections: Little Black Dress Flash 2020





	Just a Bit of Wriggle Room

**Author's Note:**

  * For [human_nature (AllyHR)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllyHR/gifts).



"Hello, Madam President. Do I call you that? Last time I was on Gallifrey, I didn't have time to learn the etiquette. Or can I just call you Fred?"

Romanadvoratrelunda looked up into brown eyes and a smile that was both very sweet and very sad, but somehow the most comforting thing she had seen in a long time.

* * *

In the 1920s, in Canton on Earth, those eyes had sparkled at her from a girl next to her on the bus, right before the girl had swung a mighty right-hook for her size and knocked the Doctor from the bus. Right before a hail of bullets from the other side of the street took out where he had been standing.

Unfortunately, a couple caught the girl as well, red spreading out over her cream blouse.

Romanadvoratrelunda knew she should go after the Doctor and make sure he was all right, but instead she pulled the girl into her arms.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded.

"Oh, it's you," the girl said. "Fred." She shook her head sharply, despite her obvious pain and fading health. "No, wait. I don't know a Fred. Not a girl, anyway. Must be blood loss. I don't know, I just felt like that man was in danger, and I should help him. That he was important."

"He's very important," Romanadvoratrelunda said tenderly, stroking the girl's dark hair. "You did a very important thing."

"Thought so." The girl sighed, and closed her eyes.

"What is your name? I want to remember it." But it was too late.

* * *

The second time Romanadvoratrelunda saw those eyes, they were on a girl clambering into the high window of their cell and dropping to the floor. She probably meant to drop elegantly, like a cat, but she fell on her bottom.

"Ow, ow ow! Um, hi. Greetings, I am the Rebel Maid Clare and I am here to rescue--what are your names?"

The Doctor beamed kindly at her. "I'm the Doctor. Thank you for coming to our aid. And this is--"

"Romanadvoratrelunda." She stared at Clare, who was wearing breeches and a tunic and bore a startling resemblance to the girl from Canton in what was Clare's far future. Romanadvoratrelunda quite liked being tall and statuesque, it gave her the required dignity, unlike the impish Time Lord she travelled with. But for the first time it occured to Romanadvoratrelunda that it might be nice to be small and vivacious. Maybe next time.

"That's a bit of a mouthful. Beautiful, though. For a beautiful girl."

"You can always call her--"

"Fred," Romanadvoratrelunda interrupted, with a triumphant glance at the Doctor. He made a face at her.

"Fred. I like it." Clare's warm gaze suggested she liked Romanadvoratrelunda, too, and for some reason Romanadvoratrelunda blushed. It was ridiculous. This was just a short human with big eyes, quite like a bug, really, who happened to look like a distant descendant. These things happened. Still... Clare was pretty, and nice, if a bit bossy, and called her Fred.

"Don't wear white next time you get caught in a dungeon. It's not at all practical," Clare said, which delighted the Doctor all together too much. Still, Romanadvoratrelunda liked her.

It was a shame about the arrows.

* * *

Clara was sure the girl was important. She appeared again at again, always at crucial moments of danger, rendered aid... and died. Her name varied, but most often she was Clara, and that was how Romanadvoratrelunda came to think of her.

She never seemed to directly encounter the Doctor, and whenever Romanadvoratrelunda tried, he had one of his irascible fits and dismissed her. It was a common name. So many small human women with big brown eyes. Romanadvoratrelunda couldn't understand his dismissal, but after all, she was very young, she was beginning to understand, not even two centuries old, and irritating as it was, he didn't always trust her with his secrets.

After Ancient Greence, after the 1820s, after the Bronze Age, she began to build up a picture of Clara. She loved K-9, was as energetic as sweet champagne bottled up and shaken hard, had a bit of a temper, and extremely bossy. Romanadvoratrelunda appreciated bossiness. She sacrificed herself willingly and impulsively. And she was an incorrigible flirt.

Romanadvoratrelunda began to look for her everywhere, simultaneously hoping to see her, and fearing seeing her death again. The girl never remembered her, and that hurt, but at the same time Romanadvoratrelunda felt she was becoming closer and closer.

In Ancient Egyptian Earth, the brown eyes had closed below a heavy perfumed wig and Romanadvoratrelunda's eyes had fluttered shut too, expecting a yielding pressure on her lips. Ozaze, as she had been called, had just kissed her on the nose and giggled.

Romanadvoratrelunda and the Doctor had survived, thanks to Osaze but Romanadvoratrelunda had never been able to bear crocodiles since.

In Budapest, Clara was called Clarissa and wore a long white dress and seemed a lot taller, although Romanadvoratrelunda realised it was that she was shorter herself. She liked their eyes being more on a level. And she couldn't bear the thought of this girl having her blood drained and dying again.

"Come away with me and my friend," she said impulsively. "We can offer you all the adevntures of of time and space." The Doctor would be fine with her inviting an unknown girl on board, she told herself.

Clarissa leaned in and kissed her, soft and warm, and Romanadvoratrelunda's heart melted. She pulled her close. _I won't let you die again. And we'll figure out this connection._

"That's quite an offer from a girl I just met, Fred. But I always did like blondes, and you are an _excellent_ kisser."

"Come on." Romanadvoratrelunda grabbed her hand, and they headed back to the Doctor, but the Labyrinth was too much for them. Or Clara's fate was too strong.

As it turned out, when Romanadvoratrelunda parted ways with the Doctor, Clara's connection had not been with her at all. The thought hurt. Perhaps it had just been E-Space, but then when she returned to N-space, she kept looking for bright brown eyes, and none were right.

She researched all she could, but there were no records of a human girl bonded to the Doctor, dying again and again, and Romanadvoratrelunda lhad so much to think of. Being President of the High Council on Gallifrey was no easy job even for her. There had been the Civil War. The Dogma Virus. The Time War. She never forgot Clara.

* * *

She stood up and flung herself at the human girl, picking her up. "What are you doing on Unity?"

"Hey, you're pretty touchy-feely for a woman awaiting the Daleks, Fred," Clara said, laughing. "I like it." She hugged Romanadvoratrelunda back, warm, fragrant and... without a heartbeat. "Um, yeah. I'm kind of dead. Almost."

"That means the Doctor..."

"I'm not here for him this time." Clara pushed Romanadvoratrelunda's hair back and kissed her lips gently. Romanadvoratrelunda pressed back, let her lips part, the kiss deepen. "There are fixed points in time. Like my death." Clara's smile brightened. "But there's some wriggle room. Between one heartbeat and the next. Or about fifteen minutes before things go... well, spoilers. So how about you come with Me and me?"

"There's two of you? I shouldn't be surprised."

"I think I said that wrong." Clara smiled at her, pulling out of her embrace. "Let's try it this way. I have a stolen TARDIS and a cute girl and I'm not afraid to use them. In the next, ah, thirteen and a half minutes, all of time and space awaits. I promise to get you back on time. So--how about it?"

She held out her hand, and the sadness in her eyes was replaced by a spark of mischief and hope. Romanadvoratrelunda thought of her responsibilities, her terrible guilt, of Leela and Narvin relying on her, of the terrible knowledge of who her third regeneration might be if she allowed herself to become the War Queen instead of dyin here for good. She couldn't be a mad girl in a box. That kind of thing was for _him_.

Just a bit of wriggle room.

"There's a lot you can do in, um, thirteen minutes," Clara said hopefully. "I know you understand." Her hand was still out, and behind her was a Tardis. Time, space, adventure, and the terrible weight of the War no longer on her shoulders.

Fred took Clara's hand, and let her pull her to--

"Oh, don't tell me it got stuck."

Clara's laughter was the sweetest sound in time and space.


End file.
